Nashua commuters affected by ongoing Boston manhunt

By Benjamin C. KleinUnion Leader CorrespondentApril 19. 2013 3:11PM
NASHUA - With much of Boston on lockdown as thousands of police officers search door-to-door for the sole-surviving Boston Marathon bombing suspect many commuters are either stranded or have had to at least alter their travel plans.

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) was in Nashua today to tour a local business, and originally had plans to travel back home by flying out of Logan Airport. With one of the largest manhunts in Boston's history under way Logan has been closed, forcing Hoyer to fly out of Maine.

"Very frankly I was going to do a fundraiser in Boston for my good friend John Tierney (D-Mass.), but we both decided that with what is going on it would be a good idea to call it off," Hoyer said.

George Prevost is a driver for the Boston Express, which travels between Boston and Nashua, and said that he has never seen Boston like it is today.

"The streets are empty, it's like a ghost town. The only people on the streets are the thousands of police, there are police on every corner and many are carrying assault rifles. I have never seen Boston like that before in my life," Prevost said.

Prevost added that while flights out of Logan Airport are grounded, bus service to the airport is still in service.

Fellow bus driver Lance Ouellette said his trip to Boston was suspended, but that the bombings have already changed how he thinks. Both Prevost and Ouellette said that when they load luggage into the bus now, they have second thoughts in the back of their mind as to what those suitcases contain.

"I hope bombings like this don't become normal," Prevost said.

Roxanne Leming of Indiana is in Nashua for business, but with train service out of Boston suspended she said she is nervous she will be stranded in New Hampshire.

"And I only have enough money for the train, I didn't bring any extra for a hotel or anything," Leming said.

Despite the bombings, Kim and Tony Carrozza of Nashua said they are undaunted by traveling to Logan Airport while the manhunt is still active.

"We've been, for some strange reason, in places traveling where these kind of things have happened before. We were in London during the subway bombings, and we flew on a replacement flight out of Newark right after 9/11," Kim said.

After being so close to terrorism so many times, Tony said, "We are used to this."